Abstract

Speakers may be forced to alter their speech and physiological patterns when they are fitted with a dental prosthesis. In the present study, speech alterations were assessed as a function of the speech task, the dimensions of the prosthesis and the speaker's auditory environment. Each of 24 normal subjects read lists of syllables, words, and sentences and spoke spontaneously while wearning no prosthesis, a thin (1.5 mm) prosthesis covering the entire palate, and a thick (3 mm) prosthesis covering the palate. All tasks were completed in quiet and in the presence of a 90 dB SPLspeechnoise. In a variety of acoustic and perceptual analyses,speech deteriorated as the thickness of the prosthesis increased, and when noise was presented. There was no interaction between the effects of the noise and the prostheses on speech. Although differences between conditions generally reached statistical significance, subject variability was striking. [Work supported by an NIDR postdoctoral fellowship awarded to S. R. Garber.]